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XL-Dennis
03-06-2005, 02:40 PM
Title:
Professional Excel Development
Authors:
Stephen Bullen, Rob Bovey, John Green
ISBN:
780321262509
Publisher:
Addison & Wesley
Year:
2005

Target group:
Advanced users and developers

Ranking:

On a scale from 1 to 5 : 4

On a scale from 1 to 10 : 7.5.


Comments:
The book is targeting power users and professional developers and if You consider Yourself to be in this group then this book is for you.

It's a well written book, with a high technical level and with a good structure.

But as with every book it has its strong parts as well as weak parts. Weak parts in terms of that some chapters are overviews only and do not give any depth on the subjects they cover.

The chapters that cover best practice are all excellent. Here the authors share all their experience & knowledge by discussion application structures, structure for notation, advanced techniques for userforms and toolbars, error handling, debugging and many other things. The chapters also cover how to create and use add-ins and user defined functions (UDFs).

The chapters that deal with VB 6.0 & Excel are all excellent too. A welcome contribution is that this book leverages many of the good techniques we use in MS VB 6.0 into Excel, especially when it comes to userforms.

The book covers in a nice way how to create & use classes, create & use ActiveX DLL and front-loaders for Excel in MS VB 6.0.

A whole chapter is devoted to Visual Tools for Office System (VSTO) and point also out all the present shortcomings of VSTO.

As with every book nowadays this book also includes a chapter about XML which is well written and with a high technically level.


If the above is what You're looking for then this book is a must have.

The following chapters provide overviews of the subjects:
Programming with Database
Data Manipulation techniques
Windows API
Creating XLLs with C#

If You're looking to get more then an introduction or a compressed picture on these subject then there exist other books that will give You more.

The book uses an example, PETRAS Timesheet, to exemplify the subject that is covered in each chapter. Some readers will appreciate it very much while other (like me) will skip it. Anyway, PETRAS timesheet is also well worked out like the rest of the book.

In order to work through both the PETRAS Timesheet case and all the examples the book is given You need to have access to the following softwares:

* MS Office 2003 Professional (minimum requirement for the VSTO-chapter)
* MS Visual Basic 6.0 (no longer available for sale from Microsoft)
* Visual Studio.NET (VB.NET & C#)
* VSTO (Separate tool that require Visual Studio.NET)

Kind regards,
Dennis

Howard Kaikow
03-12-2005, 09:51 AM
* MS Visual Basic 6.0 (no longer available for sale from Microsoft)


Visual Basic 6 or Visual Studio 6 is still offerred by a number of online vendors, e.g., www.atomicpark.com (http://www.atomicpark.com). Also, check at www.pricegrabber.com (http://www.pricegrabber.com) for others.

Paleo
03-12-2005, 08:30 PM
You can still buy VB 6.0 straigh for Microsoft. You just need to buy VB.NET and then ask for downgrade and you will get VB 6.0. You may even get VB 2.0 by downgrading or joinning the Academic Alliance.:thumb

Howard Kaikow
03-12-2005, 09:42 PM
You can still buy VB 6.0 straigh for Microsoft. You just need to buy VB.NET and then ask for downgrade and you will get VB 6.0. You may even get VB 2.0 by downgrading or joinning the Academic Alliance.:thumb

Buying directly from a manufacturer is usually quite a bit more expensive.

Paleo
03-13-2005, 09:06 AM
Buying directly from a manufacturer is usually quite a bit more expensive.
Totally agree :thumb !

XL-Dennis
03-13-2005, 10:13 AM
Any comments on the review itself or have You not read the book?

Howard Kaikow
03-13-2005, 11:19 AM
Any comments on the review itself or have You not read the book?

i have the book.

Paleo
03-13-2005, 10:11 PM
I dont :giggle, but am starting to think on buying it.

brettdj
03-14-2005, 12:08 AM
Thanks Dennis - sounds like a must have

JonPeltier
03-18-2005, 09:57 PM
I dont, but am starting to think on buying it.

Stop thinking, man, and buy the book. My copy is already becoming dog-eared. I've used the Worksheet Design chapter extensively (and I've been designing worksheets for years), and also the VB6 chapter. I recently attended a conference on .Net which had several sessions on using .Net with Office: web services, XML, VSTO, all that stuff. Reading the two or three chapters ahead of time prepared me for the conference, at least not to fall completely for all of the rose-colored pronouncements.

I should note that I helped with editing the book and I know the authors. But I still think this is the best book of its type.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

Paleo
03-20-2005, 08:35 AM
Hi Jon,

great, thank for the tip. Now I am looking for it on amazon.com to buy it.:thumb

XL-Dennis
03-20-2005, 03:25 PM
I should note that I helped with editing the book and I know the authors. But I still think this is the best book of its type.


Yes, I agree that it's the best present book in its category, especially when this kind of book never been written before. But I also believe it's necessary to point out that You need to know Your stuff in order to take advantage of its content.

BTW, who did the technical reviewing of the VSTO's and XLL's chapters?

Personally I was disappointed with some chapters, especially the Database-chapter which I believe could have been much better if it had been targeting SQL Server and with an another approach. After all, Mr Bovey obviously work with SQL Server and it would have been nice to take part of his experience in this ares.

FYI, I have had a detailed discussion about the book with Mr Bullen.

Kind regards,
Dennis

Anne Troy
03-20-2005, 04:54 PM
Phew!! Thank goodness!! Dennis never had a detailed discussion with me about MY book!!

Ken Puls
03-20-2005, 10:08 PM
Phew!! Thank goodness!! Dennis never had a detailed discussion with me about MY book!!

Did he hurt your feelings, Anne? :cry2:

Anne Troy
03-20-2005, 10:11 PM
Not at all! I am not COMPLETELY proud of my book. I would like to put out a second edition, actually...

XL-Dennis
03-20-2005, 11:25 PM
Dear Princess,

Just let me know when You're about to update the book and I will happily review the first edition as input to the second edition :thumb

However, I must be honest with You and mention the fact that "Word don't come easy to me" :whistle:

Kind regards,
Dennis

Anne Troy
03-21-2005, 12:03 AM
Thanks, Dennis! :bigkiss:

JonPeltier
03-21-2005, 04:51 AM
You were supposed to say, "That's why you should read my book!"

XL-Dennis
03-21-2005, 07:50 AM
Jon - thanks for making my day ;)

Paleo
03-21-2005, 09:18 AM
With so many authors here, maybe one way to generate revenues for the site could be to sell electronic versions of some books where a part of the profit would stay with the sites admins to buy prizes for users and of course the bigger part would go to the author. What do you think on this guys?

XL-Dennis
03-21-2005, 09:28 AM
Carlos,

I believe that the copyright is with the publishers and not with the authors.

Kind regards,

Dennis

Anne Troy
03-21-2005, 10:39 AM
Also, the minute you release an electronic copy of a book...it pops up everywhere!!

Paleo
03-21-2005, 12:24 PM
Oh ok, but we must assume that even not publishing an electronic version if the book comes with an electronic version on CD it pops up everywhere anyway.

Ken Puls
03-21-2005, 12:43 PM
I dunno,

J-Walk's Power Programming comes with a PDF version on CD. Not that I've looked too hard to find one (I bought the book), but I haven't seen that flying around... :dunno

Paleo
03-21-2005, 12:46 PM
Its never simply flying away, you can find books on privates ftps (where you need a user and a password to get in) all over the net and they have tons of books.

Ken Puls
03-21-2005, 12:51 PM
Okay, well fair enough. As I said, I've never really looked. I buy the books I'm interested in, but I love having the PDF version as well. Means I can carry a CD instead of 50 lbs of books when I want to read them somewhere else. :yes

Paleo
03-21-2005, 12:54 PM
I like PDFs to but I must state I much rather books, thats why I buy so many... I like a lot better books for studying than my computers screen.

Howard Kaikow
04-01-2005, 12:00 AM
Also, the minute you release an electronic copy of a book...it pops up everywhere!!

a sad comment on the lack of ethics in our society.

all too many folkes will steal software or elecronic books, but they are unlikely to steal a candy bar.

JonPeltier
04-01-2005, 04:52 AM
I like PDFs to but I must state I much rather books, thats why I buy so many... I like a lot better books for studying than my computers screen.
Me too. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but a book is easier to flip through than a multimegabyte pdf file. You can put a sticky note wherever you want, fold down a page (well, I don't, but you could), or write in the margins.

Howard Kaikow
04-01-2005, 01:57 PM
Me too. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but a book is easier to flip through than a multimegabyte pdf file. You can put a sticky note wherever you want, fold down a page (well, I don't, but you could), or write in the margins.

A book has the advantage that you can easily skip thru the critter, flipping back and forth at will, and, most importantly, is easily portable to be used on on the porcelain throne or whilst away from a computer, say, whilst watching TV.

Also, with a book one is less prone to tunnel vision. With a PDF file, one often just finds the point(s) of interest and ignores the rest, thus losing the big picture. A book, in effect, makes it more difficult to lose the big picture.

Bye thee waye, my religion precludes writing in a book and that is one tenet of my religion I would not violate.

Scottie P
04-01-2005, 04:06 PM
I much prefer a bound copy - and I do make notes in books. If I buy it, then it is something that I plan on keeping; if I do end up passing it on, then maybe the notes will come in handy for the new owner (especially if it relates to footnotes on similar topics elsewhere that were never an original part of the book).

PDF versions tend to burn my eyes out quick and Howard is definitely correct about finding points of interest and skipping the 'in between'; I find myself doing that alot with electronic copy and not something I do with bound media.

S

Ken Puls
04-01-2005, 04:11 PM
For the record, I'd never buy ONLY the PDF copy. I way prefer to read the bound copy. It's more comfortable, and way easier to read too.

I have 2 of J-Walk's books, though, which come with the PDF on CD. The CD's are at work so that I can quickly look something up that I've read about at home but can't quite remember.

A complement, certainly not a replacement. :)

Just got this book (Professional Excel Development) in the mail 2 days ago as well. I'm up to chapter 3, and it seems awesome so far! :yes

Zack Barresse
04-01-2005, 04:18 PM
We want a full report when you're done, Ken! :p

XL-Dennis
04-01-2005, 04:21 PM
I agree with Howard and Scott. A printed books can never be replaced with electronic stuff. I like to open a new book, makes my notes in it, switch forward and back and carry it with me when I'm travelling. I also like to buy used books and look what other may have done notes about. It's like a story itself. I may be old fashioned but that's the way it is and that's the way it will be for me.

Enjoy the reading Ken :)

Howard Kaikow
04-01-2005, 04:46 PM
I much prefer a bound copy - and I do make notes in books. If I buy it, then it is something that I plan on keeping; if I do end up passing it on, then maybe the notes will come in handy for the new owner (especially if it relates to footnotes on similar topics elsewhere that were never an original part of the book).

PDF versions tend to burn my eyes out quick and Howard is definitely correct about finding points of interest and skipping the 'in between'; I find myself doing that alot with electronic copy and not something I do with bound media.

S

Reading most anything at a terminal is bad for the eyes and other body parts.

Once one knows a topic to some degree, then looking up bits and pieves online can be cost effective.

Alas, many delude themselves into not buying books because they believe it is less expension to find things online.

As far as writing in books is concerned, I had a very bad incident in my youth.

I loaned a textbook for a course to a very good friend. Tho he said that he would not write in the book, he wrote all over the thing.

Because of that single incident, I will NOT write in a book nor will I loan a book to anybody!

As far as I know my old friend is still alive, he is a well known professor at a large university.

Anne Troy
06-11-2005, 07:55 AM
I have deleted some posts here by general agreement of those who posted them. The deleted posts can still be seen by admin-types. If anybody has any complaints, feel free to PM me. Except you, Rich.

:hi:

brettdj
06-11-2005, 08:13 AM
In summary, I liked the book. :)

fanjy
05-30-2010, 01:00 AM
I like the book very much!
I has the first editor.But I want to read the second editor.

Bob Phillips
05-31-2010, 12:42 PM
I like the book very much!
I has the first editor.But I want to read the second editor.

fanjy,

It is first edition, and second edition , not editor (just saying for your information).

The 2nd ed is very good, worth buying in addition to the 1st ed, lots of .Net, Visual Studio stuff by a colleague, XL-Dennis.

shrivallabha
08-23-2011, 02:21 AM
I could not get a copy in local store in Mumbai. First, Addison & Wesley publications come in India through Pearson books. Second, it is not available in Pearson catalogue as well (probably for commercial reasons, very few buyers).

Buy it on Amazon.com if you are in India.

varptor
09-21-2011, 10:33 PM
Is it available for kindle?

Bob Phillips
09-23-2011, 03:32 PM
Check Amazon.

Kenny22
03-14-2012, 07:44 AM
Trying to get my hands on this book..Ive heard good things about it from several people at uni.